cleanse
Americanverb (used with object)
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cleanses,
present (3rd person singular)
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cleansed,
past participle, past
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cleansing
present participle
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to make clean.
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to remove by or as if by cleaning.
to cleanse sin from the soul.
verb (used without object)
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cleanses,
present (3rd person singular)
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cleansed,
past participle, past
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cleansing
present participle
verb
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to remove dirt, filth, etc, from
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to remove guilt from
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to remove a group of people from (an area) by means of ethnic cleansing
Synonym Usage
See clean.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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recleanseverb (used with object)
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cleansableadjective
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uncleansableadjective
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uncleansedadjective
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well-cleansedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cleansesimple
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cleansessimple
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have cleansedperfect
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has cleansedperfect
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am cleansingprogressive
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are cleansingprogressive
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is cleansingprogressive
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have been cleansingperfect progressive
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has been cleansingperfect progressive
Past
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cleansedsimple
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had cleansedperfect
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was cleansingprogressive
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were cleansingprogressive
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had been cleansingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cleanse
before 900; Middle English clensen, Old English clǣnsian, equivalent to clǣne clean + -si- v. suffix + -an infinitive suffix
Vocabulary lists containing cleanse
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
This momentary cleanse won’t save them, but it will keep them going.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
Kevin Buzzard, a flamboyant British number theorist, believes that Lean will cleanse mathematics of its excessive sloppiness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
For the psychic who does a spiritual cleanse on her, they were lucky to find one who agreed to have his face on camera.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
"For the rivers within us flow with ease, fears washed away, cleanse and purify. Come to peace with our tears and discover what it means to be alive," she says.
From BBC ● Jan. 9, 2026
The old nurse Eurycleia and her maids were summoned to cleanse the place and restore all to order.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Devon Kelley, a content creator who has posted to #ShowerTok, double cleanses her body once or twice a week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
It was just out of earshot from Oz nodding along to musings on how “sleep is when the brain cleanses itself.”
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026
Bertollini said she is skeptical of cleanses marketed for large numbers of people that are used in a “preventative” way without confirming that they have a parasite in the first place.
From Salon ● May 18, 2025
I explore “Why not both?’” since water cleanses us — not just physically but spiritually, emotionally and mentally.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2025
The truth swells larger than the tub walls can hold, cleanses me more than the water and bubbles ever can.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
Maybe it’s because he was lucky enough to have his footprint cleansed a bit.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
She feels cleansed by the sea and the fog that shrouds the world’s ugliness, and believes there is happiness to be salvaged from the wreckage of her past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025
I reclined in the exam chair as Shalom parted my hair into sections and cleansed the area with an antiseptic liquid.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2025
“That cleansed the space of a lot of weaker companies,” he says.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2025
“Dirty” cars, which hadn’t yet been cleansed of graffiti, were never to be mixed with “clean” cars.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
"Outdoor swimming feels mentally and physically cleansing," Hickman, a keen swimmer herself, says.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
Among other capabilities, the new site will be the company’s global center for skin care and cleansing and have a “human performance lab” that will enable on-site testing of ingestibles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Earlier work by the team showed that corona discharges could be a significant source of these atmospheric cleansing agents within forest canopies.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 21, 2026
Blankfein added that the long period without a financial crisis cleansing process meant ”you accumulate tinder on the floor of the forest and eventually a spark will come.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026
She starts by asking me to close my eyes and take deep, cleansing breaths.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
